Formlabs are always improving their 3D printers and the materials that they print with, and the Massachusetts-based company came good today with some interesting announcements at CES. They announced a new version of their most popular resin – Grey Resin – and they announced a new experimental product platform called Form X.
Formlabs at CES
Here’s a summary of Formlabs’ announcements today:
Form X
For us, this is the most exciting Formlabs announcement today. Form X is a new experimental platform, for those designers and engineers who want to explore 3D printing and push the boundaries of stereolithography. Form X will launch this month, and Formlabs will use it to showcase new techniques. It will launch with two projects to start with: OpenFL, and Ceramic Resin.
OpenFL is an open-source platform for the Form 1+ 3D printer. Ceramic Resin, meanwhile, is a prototype Resin that was announced at CES today but is not yet available for purchase. It looks very interesting though – unfired, Ceramic Resin is a composite suitable for prototyping and art, and after firing, prints are transformed into pure ceramic. The resin will go on sale later in 2017, with it still being in the development stage right now.
“In announcing Form X, we want to get innovative materials and research tools into the hands of those who wish to explore, improvise, and push the boundaries of what’s possible with 3D printing and on the Form 2,” said Dávid Lakatos, chief product officer at Formlabs. “Ceramic Resin is perfect example with Form X. Ceramic Resin is one of the most novel areas in material science to explore in 3D printing right now. Ceramic 3D printing allows for the creation of structures and complex geometries not possible with traditional ceramic fabrication techniques.”
The Form X product platform will be used to showcase the ability of stereolithography 3D printers throughout 2017, so you can expect some very interesting and cutting-edge projects over the coming months.
New Grey Resin
The new Grey Resin (FLGPGRO3) is an updated version of Formlabs’ existing Grey resin, which was launched in 2013. Grey resin has similar strength characteristics to ABS when post-cured and offers a matte finish. The new version has been formulated to offer an even better finish, with smoother surfaces and crisper details for accurate prototyping and sculpting.
Grey Resin is ideal for printing fine detail, yet it’s strong enough to be used for functional prototyping. The Grey base also serves as the perfect surface for paint. Grey Resin is Formlabs’ most popular resin, with a variety of uses. It supports print resolutions of 100, 50 and 25-microns, and it can even be sanded.
“Our general purpose resins have always been a great focus of our development efforts,” said Dávid Lakatos, chief product officer at Formlabs. “We worked together with our customers to arrive at the third reformulation of Grey, which brings greater opacity and matte finish to one of our most beloved materials.”
You can use the newly formulated Grey Resin with the Form 1+ and Form 2 3D printers. The older version of the Resin will be phased out from today, with the new version going on sale immediately. There’s no price change to mention, with the new Formlabs’ Grey Resin still costing around £120 per litre ($140 USD, 135 EUR). It will go on sale in bottles for the Form 1+, and in cartridges for the Form 2. Contact us here to register your interest in the new Grey Resin.
About Formlabs
Formlabs manufacture stereolithography (SLA) 3D printers in the desktop class, and they develop their own resins in-house. The company was founded in 2012, by a team of engineers and designers from MIT. Formlabs is a market leader, with an outstanding range of products. GoPrint3D are a Formlabs partner, and an authorised reseller of Formlabs products.
